Over the weekend, San Francisco Chronicle writer Victoria Colliver issued a friendly reminder about flu shots: It's time to get one, folks! Her article discusses current flu activity (the CDC considers it "low" and "sporadic" - "which is normal for this time of year"), outlines the different types of vaccines available, and talks about the unpredictable nature of the flu:
"The virus can really throw a lot of curves - even from the start of the epidemic in December to the springtime," said Dr. David Lewis, an immunologist with Stanford University School of Medicine. "It can change from the time it's in the Southern Hemisphere to the time it moves to the Northern Hemisphere."
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"If you got a flu vaccine last year, well done. But you still need one this year," said [Dr. Randy Bergen, infectious disease specialist and pediatrician at Kaiser Permanente Walnut Creek]...